Urdu: Interview

We have a beautiful word for rad shuda - mardood. Without any connotations. But you can't really use it without people getting other ideas. Which is a pity. "Job Interview maiN aap mardood qaraar payay" simply means you didn't make it through the selection process, but the interview-shuda guy is likely to be ba-dast-o-geraybaan with you!

By the way, could you please translate 'interview'?

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Yes, you are right about both. But if you think about it, an interview involves both. Similarly, for the Arabic alternatives 'muqaabalah' and 'Hadeeth'. Incidentally, these two words also have roots which each are related to these very words, their respective derivatives, but have other meanings too - I mean the roots do. We obviously can't use 'mukaalimah' in Urdu for interview because we already use it to mean conversation = Hiwaar in Arabic. Most people just use the English word 'interview' becasue they couldn't be bothered to look for alternatives. We actually could use 'muqaabalah', just as in Arabic. But many will confuse it with 'muqaabilah' = contest / competition, in Urdu... and 'Hadeeth' for us is reserved only for Prophetic traditions. However, 'muHaadathah' as a word in Urdu is, I feel, both available and related to the other word (Hadeeth) used in Arabic for interview. Other ideas welcome!

In Farsi, from where borrow / borrowed a lot, it is muSaahebah! Rû-ba-rû guftagû = face-to-face talk (doesn't mean an interview - and is so used in Urdu). Usage: aaj teeno hukoomatooN ke wuzaraa ne rû-ba-rû guftagû ki [= Today the ministers of the three governments had (a) face-to-face talk(s)]. They didn't interview each other!!

Now the problem we are facing in Urdu is that interview is a specialized word describing a very specific thing (if you take the litteral meaning, a a word as simple as mulaaqaat almost translates it correctly !).

The other problem, is that you would like to go for a neologism... although interview has become an Urdu word and I don't see it challenged by any Urdu neologism in ne near future.... The only word i can think of which has been used in the Urdu media is mulaaqaat (khusoosii mulaaqaat= special interview).

I think I have seen MuSaaHibah translating interview in some context, but I am not sure.... Please don't ask me for references I won't probably find them...

Rû-ba-rû guftagû = face-to-face talk (doesn't mean an interview - and is so used in Urdu). Usage: aaj teeno hukoomatooN ke wuzaraa ne rû-ba-rû guftagû ki [= Today the ministers of the three governments had (a) face-to-face talk(s)]. They didn't interview each other!!

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Cilquiestsuens said:

Who ever claimed it was ? I've called this a periphrastic translation, and it is quite good if you know the origin of the word interview...

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I didn’t say anyone was claiming anything. Perhaps that was implied, otherwise why else the suggestion on your part as an alternative to what I presented. At least that is how I understood. May be I didn't quite follow what you really meant. Anyway, if you please have a look at post #1 above, you’ll notice that I was specifically asked this: “By the way, could you please translate 'interview'? “

In standard Urdu, rû-ba-rû guftagû = face to face talk, not an interview. This is how we use this term. Besides, the definition of interview you present from 1514 though very interesting historically is quite outdated. The present meaning is significantly different from how the word was used then. The term khusoosee mulaaqaat also presents to me a problem as it is found in standard Urdu and means special meeting ( khusoosee = special, and mulaaqaat = meeting). This is how it is used.

BTW, I really don’t need a reference for ‘muSaaHibah’. I am satisfied that it would suit the same purpose in Urdu as it does in Farsi and, just as you say, it has already been used in this manner in Urdu anyway. That’s all.

We have a beautiful word for rad shuda - mardood. Without any connotations. But you can't really use it without people getting other ideas. Which is a pity. "Job Interview maiN aap mardood qaraar payay" simply means you didn't make it through the selection process, but the interview-shuda guy is likely to be ba-dast-o-geraybaan with you!

By the way, could you please translate 'interview'?

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In the first sentence is "payay" supposed to be "paya"? And translation of "ba-dast-o-geraybaan" please?

^we can be almost certain of encountering somewhere پرس و پاسخ if we read enough literature. Speach I'm not too sure. You could bring it in vogue in speech if you're famous and have a following janabe QP.

^we can be almost certain of encountering somewhere پرس و پاسخ if we read enough literature. Speach I'm not too sure. You could bring it in vogue in speech if you're famous and have a following janabe QP.

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BP Sahib. purs-o-paasuKh is indeed present but I think it still has the meaning of "Question/Answer" in Persian. But we need not inform our Urdu readers about this and can pretend that it means "Interview"!

As for being famous and having a following..."yih nah thii hamaarii qismat.."!